The Bank of Russia cut its key rate more than forecast to 12.5% to support its struggling economy. The bank forecasts that inflation will slow to its 4% target in 2017. In a report Wednesday, the Economy Ministry said gross domestic product fell 2.2% in the first quarter from the same period last year.

The Nikkei tanked after the Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged, as expected.The index fell by 2.69%, and the Japanese yen rallied. Bond yields also climbed, with the Japanese 10-year yield up by as much as 3.5 basis points, a 12% increase on the previous close on Tuesday.

Time Warner Cable's first-quarter results missed expectations on the top and bottom line. First-quarter earnings fell to $1.65 a share, lower than the forecast of $1.88, according to Bloomberg. Sales rose 3.5% to $5.78 billion, missing the estimate of $5.83 billion. The company's planned merger with Comcast was terminated last week.

Chinese steel demand fell 6% in the first quarter of 2015 — the first Q1 decline reported in the past 20 years. According to China's Iron and Steel Association (CISA), overall steel output declined by 1.7% to 200.1 million tonnes. Iron ore futures plunged 4.6% to $57.13 on Wednesday, according to data provided by Metal Bulletin.

Spanish GDP grew better than expected in the first quarter, by 0.9% and 2.6% year-over-year. In comparison, that is three times as fast as the UK managed in the same period, and much better than the US' disappointing Q1, which came in at 0.2% on Wednesday.

German unemployment fell by 8,000 in April, leaving the unemployment rate at 6.4%, as expected, and stable from the previous month. German unemployment has not risen since September, but the fall this month was slightly lower than the 14,000 drop analysts expected.

Royal Dutch Shell saw a 56% plunge in earnings during the first quarter, compared with the prior year. Its earnings from oil and gas exploration and production were $675 million in Q1, versus $5.7 billion a year ago.

Salesforce, a cloud computing company worth about $44 billion, has hired financial advisers to fight off takeover offers, according to a Bloomberg report Wednesday. It's unclear who's making the offers, which could make Salesforce the largest software company ever acquired.

US economic data is plenty. The Employment Cost Index, Initial Jobless Claims and Personal Spending data cross the wires at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Chicago PMI will drop at 10 a.m. The US Dollar Index is down 0.3% at 95.